Education at a Glance

Centre for Educational Research and Innovation

OECD's annual Education at a Glance looks at who participates in education, what is spent on it, how education systems operate and the results achieved. The latter includes indicators on a wide range of outcomes, from comparisons of students’ performance in key subject areas to the impact of education on earnings and on adults’ chances of employment. This book includes StatLinks, urls linking to Excel® spreadsheets containing the background data.

The 2004 edition of Education at a Glance: OECD Indicators enables countries to see themselves in the light of other countries' performance. It provides a rich, comparable and up-to-date array of indicators on the performance of education systems. The focus of the 2004 edition is on the quality of learning outcomes, the policy levers and contextual factors that shape these outcomes, and the broader private and social returns that accrue to investments in education. For the first time, the publication also provides indicators on how the labour market returns to education have evolved over time as education systems have expanded.

The indicators are not limited to aggregate country performance, but also address variations within countries. This allows for an examination of issues of equity in the provision and outcomes of education, on dimensions such as gender, age, socio-economic background, type of institution, or field of education. The thematic organisation of the volume and the background information accompanying the tables and charts make this publication a valuable resource for anyone interested in analysing education systems across countries.

Changing economic and social conditions have given education an increasingly central role in the success of individuals and nations. Human capital has long been identified as a key factor in combating unemployment and low pay, but there is now also robust evidence that it is associated with a wide range of non-economic benefits, including improvements in health and a greater sense of well-being. The benefits of education have driven increased participation in a widening range of learning activities ...

Education at a Glance – OECD Indicators 2004 provides a rich, comparable and up-to-date array of indicators that reflect a consensus among professionals on how to measure the current state of education internationally. The indicators provide information on the human and financial resources invested in education, on how education and learning systems operate and evolve, and on the returns to educational investments. The indicators are organised thematically, and each is accompanied by relevant background information. The education indicators are presented within an organising framework which: ...

Educational attainment of the adult population; Current upper secondary graduation rates and educational attainment of the adult population; Current tertiary graduation and survival rates and educational attainment of the adult population; Tertiary graduates by field of study; Trends in 4th-grade students’ reading literacy performance; Reading literacy of 15-year- olds; Mathematical and scientific literacy of 15-year-olds; 15-year-olds’ engagement in school – A sense of belonging and participation; Gender differences in student performance; Labour force participation by level of educational attainment; The returns to education: education and earnings; The returns to education: links between human capital and economic growth ..

Educational expenditure per student; Expenditure on educational institutions relative to gross domestic product; Relative proportions of public and private investment in educational institutions; Total public expenditure on education; Support for students and households through public subsidies; Expenditure on institutions by service category and by resource category ...

School expectancy and enrolment rates; Entry into and expected years in tertiary education and participation in secondary education; Foreign students in tertiary education; Education and work status of the youth population; The situation of the youth population with low levels of education ...

Total intended instruction time for students in primary and secondary education; Class size and ratio of students to teaching staff; Teachers’ salaries; Teaching time and teachers’ working time; Student admission, placement and grouping policies in upper secondary schools; Decision making in education systems